Betrayed
by Almond of the Stars
Summary: Greetings. I am Whispering-grass of LakeClan. I have a huge secret, so huge, that no one can find out about it. Not even my own mother. My secret, is my brother...
1. Prologue

**Betrayed**

Greetings. I am Whisperinggrass of LakeClan. I have a huge secret, so huge, that _**no one**_ can find out about. Not even my own mother. I know, impressive right? You're probably thinking it's some secret, forbidden love life...

Well it's not. You see, it's my brother. His official name is Stonekit, but I like to call him Stonepelt. He's my litter mate that was abandoned as a kit because he has some type of problem that even a medicine cat can't solve. Trust me, we've tried.

When he was no less than 2 moons old, the clan discovered he had some problems. His eyes are all crossed and he can't walk straight. Plus, sometimes he just can't speak correctly. Either that or he just doesn't want to. Fallingleaf, our medicine cat tried everything, from herbs that make you throw-up, to seeds that put you to sleep, to leafs that help get milk to come in a nursing queen. Nothing worked. By then, my mom and the rest of the clan had given up and tried to put him out of his misery. They gave him deathberries.

I couldn't believe it. I sat there as a 5 and a half moon kit with sadness threatening to overwhelm me. You see, we had bonded in those hard times for him and I loved him dearly. He shuddered one last time and everyone walked away to arrange his burial. But I just sat there, and was the only one to see him give a tiny, pathetic little cough. In an instant, I had forgotten my sadness and clawed the deathberry out of his throat. It turned out he had just been choking on it. From that moment, I knew I would have to protect and care for him myself, so I got him out of camp. I clawed myself so that it looked like I was hurt and ran back to camp. I raced to the nursery to find my mom, Darktail waiting for me. I managed to pant out "rouge" and she knew (or she thought she did) what had happened. She bolted past me to check on Stonekit, but I know she knew he wasn't there. We morned for him for many moons while I became an apprentice, then a warrior. And here I am today, still taking that risk in my life to keep Stonepelt alive.


	2. Discovered

"Stonepelt – NO!" That at least is something he understands. Stonepelt sat down and sneezed, apparently not appreciating that I had yelled at him for sniffing a deathberry. "Stonepelt, you and I have talked about those. Red berries are bad, they could kill you, they almost have before." Stonepelt grunted. I'm still not sure if he really understands me, but he listens, so I'm assuming so. I carefully clawed the little bundle of deathberries off the bush and buried it. "Stonepelt, let's go back to your cave now." He slowly stood up and I leaned against him so he wouldn't tip to one side as he walked. As we meandered back to his den, an abandoned fox cave, I heard a faint call in the distance.

"Whisperinggrass! Whisperinggrass!" I can tell it's my apprentice, Falconpaw. He's _always_ looking for more training, a feat that's hard to do when I have Stonepelt to care for as well.

"Hurry!" I whisper urgently to Stonepelt. Falconpaw has already come close to discovering Stonepelt once too many times. Once I saw that Stonepelt was nicely hidden again, I raced back to camp to find Falconpaw standing on top of the apprentice den screaming his head off. "Get down from there!" I hissed at him. He was a fairly new apprentice, so I should probably cut him some slack. Still, climbing on top of an insecure den was a pretty bad idea, even for Falconpaw.

"Oh, good, you heard me." He stated happily as he bounded off the top of the rock.

I glared at him, "How could I not have?" He shrugged and I countinued, "Falconpaw, please don't do something like that again. You know how unstable the roof of that thing is. If it collapses you could kill yourself or some other apprentice that was inside. Promise me you won't do it again."

Falconpaw sighed."I promise. Can we go out hunting now? I want to try to catch some bids!" I couldn't deny such enthusiasm once he had been going on for _moon_ about how he would catch the biggest one in the forest and whatever.

* * *

"That was very good Falconpaw," I complimented as we walked into camp, each carrying fresh-kill. Stormcloud, a pretty gray tabby she-cat and the third cat on our patrol said something I couldn't understand with the rabbit in her mouth. "Um... sorry Stormcloud, what was that?"

She dropped her bunny onto the fresh-kill pile. "I _said_ that it looks like it's going to pour. " I looked up and saw she had spoken the truth. I could see the black clouds moving towards us. The storm didn't look like it would hit until sunset though, and I had to go tell Stonepelt, he hated storms.

"There's something I've got to do first," I muttered, dropping my blackbird and vole.

I bounded off to hear Stormcloud cry behind me "Whisperinggrass, Fernstar isn't going to be happy if your still out when the...." but her words died down as I sprinted out of camp.

When I got to Stonepelt, he was cowering in the corner of his pathetically small den, whimpering. He must have seen the clouds even though I always tell him not to come out of his cave. "Stonepelt, you know there's a storm coming and that I can't stay with you." He looked up, fear in his blue eyes and I licked his ear comfortingly. "Please just stay here, all right?" When he nodded I murmed "Bye," and slipped out of the small opening only to find myself looking into a tom's pair of amber eyes.

"Hello Whisperinggrass," he said.

"Oh no!" was my reply.

**A/N: sorry that was short as well, I really wanted to continue writing it, but I also wanted to leave off the cliff hanger there. please R&R.**


	3. Explanation

**AN: Ok, you can all thank DREAMFeathersong for this chapter being up. She was going to absolutely kill me if I didn't post it, so here it is. :) Sorry that all of a sudden I spell her name Whispering-grass, but a friend pointed out that's how it should be and I can't figure out how to change it in the other chapters without deleting them and reposting them which I am too lazy to do. Disclaimer- I don't own the idea for Warriors, yada yada yada... OK let's begin!**

"WAIT! Ummm, I can explain!" I cried out, not wanting the new black warrior to check out what was behind me.

He snorted. "Yeah, you better explain Whispering-grass. Fernstar sent me out here to get you. She doesn't want any cat out in the storm." Every cat understood why Fernstar was so strict about cats out in bad weather of course. Her mate had been killed when lightning struck a tree he was standing near and killed him. I didn't want Fernstar angry with me, so I was just about to agree and say we should head back to camp and hope that he would forget where I had come from, when he opened his mouth and thrust it high in the air. "What's that smell? It's not quite LakeClan... or any other Clan for that matter..."

I fluffed up my fur, hoping to block his view, even a little, from the small cave opening. "I don't smell anything. Let's go back to camp Darkthorn!"

"No!" His eyes narrowed and he started sniffing again. "It might be a rouge! We have to defend our Clan!" Oh, leave it to a new warrior to think of the worst circumstance.

I raised my voice at him, "Darkthorn! There's no rouge! I was just in that cave chasing after a mouse I saw." _Buy the story, buy the story, buy the story! _I chanted in my head. I think he was just about to too, when the worst thing that happened could.

Stonepelt, hearing my raised cry, poked his head out of his den. Darkthorn spotted him and yowled, "ACCKK! INTRUDER! Whispering-grass, help me fight him off!" He whipped around and was preparing to leap for Stonepelt when I pounced on him. He was smaller than I was, but stronger, so we were just about equally matched. "What are you doing Whispering-grass?" He snarled at me. "He's the enemy, not me!" Again and again we tumbled, head over paws, batting each other. I noticed his claws were sheathed, but that didn't stop him from pummeling me in the stomach with his back paws.

"Darkthorn, listen to me! Don't hurt him, he's my brother!"

"Like fox-dung he is! You don't have any litter mates Whispering-grass!" Of course. He wouldn't know the story. He wasn't born when it happened and it wasn't a story anyone liked repeating. It was like Stonepelt had never existed. Which was just the way I had wanted it, until now. Now I just needed Darkthorn to understand so that he wouldn't kill him! "Why should I believe you?"

"Why would I lie to you Darkthorn?" He suddenly pulled away from me and darted up a tree. He sat on the lowest branch, tail furiously swishing side to side, and looked down at me and Stonepelt, who now crawled all the way out from his den and hobbled over to me. I licked his head and glared up at Darkthorn.

He stared back and after a moments pause meowed "Fine. Maybe I'll believe you. But he has to tell the story."

Stonepelt looked up at me, confusion in his eyes and I could tell they were burning with a thousand questions, who is this cat, why is he here, why did you fight, are you staying with me yet... but I had to turn away to glower at Darkthorn once more. "He can't tell you anything Darkthorn. He can't speak. He... he..." I broke off into tiny mewls, sounding just like a kit that couldn't find it mother. Maybe I was mistaken, but I thought Darkthorn's eyes lightened a bit when he saw how distraught I was. He gave me a minute to calm down, but asked again if Stonepelt really was my brother and why he couldn't speak or walk. So, against my better judgment I told him. Stonepelt laid down. He had heard this story a thousand times before, when I had told him it when he was younger so that he would understand. Now I told it to Darkthorn so he would understand. He sat in his tree, not moving. As I spoke, I became aware the storm was clearing up. Soon Fernstar would send more cats to look for the both of us, so I sped up. When I was done, he still didn't move and I gave an impatient twitch of my tail. He cocked his head and stared at Stonepelt, who was still laying on the ground.

Finally, Darkthorn spoke again, "can I see him walk?"

I briefly nodded my head and started murmuring to Stonepelt, "you have to get up Stonepelt, we're going back to your den." I heard a low guttural sound in the back of his throat, one of the only sound he makes, one of annoyance or disagreement. "Please Stonepelt, we have to go before cats come looking for Darkthorn and me." He sneezed, but allowed me to guide him back to his cave. I could feel Darkthorn's eyes watching us and I faintly heard him leap down from the tree and follow us back to Stonepelt's pathetic den. I made a mental note to start searching for a better, roomier cave further from camp so Darkthorn wouldn't find him again. I lead Stonepelt into his cave and said goodbye. When I came out Darkthorn was waiting for me. "Well?" I asked, rather brusquely, not having any patience left for this cat that had discovered the secret I worked so hard to protect for so many moons.

He gestured with his tail that we should walk, so I followed him. We padded silently into a clearing where he finally spoke. "I want to let you know, that I believe you and I won't tell your secret, or rather his, to anyone."

"Swear by StarClan," I meowed, still suspicious.

"I, Darkthorn, swear by StarClan to never reveal this secret I have just unearthed. But Whispering-grass, I just don't understand. Why would our Clan just kill him? How could any of them, especially your mother live with that guilt?"

"Darkthorn, I've been asking myself the same question and I've had a lot longer to think about it. The answer is that cats can be just cruel. They said it was to put him out of his misery, but he's not upset. He's only sad when I have to leave him and he wouldn't have had to be sad about that if they hadn't tried killing him. I was the only one who really loved him."

Darkthorn didn't really even seem to be listening but he said slowly, "That's why you won't have Fallingleaf take care of you when your sick. You only let Meadowpaw."

"Yeah. You noticed?"

His ears went back a little and he broke our eye contact saying, "let's get back to camp before Fernstar gets paranoid and sends out the whole Clan looking for us."

"Yeah," I murmured, and I followed a tail length behind him back to LakeClan camp, wondering how this could possibly turn out well.

**AN: There, happy now DREAMFeathersong? Sorry it wasn't Falconpaw, but Darkthorn makes it more interesting and _someone _else voted for him... Wonder who that was... :) Thanks for reading! Please review and point out all my little errors I know are there. And then fawn over what a wonderful story this is! ;D**


	4. Camp

**AN: HAHAHA! I am back! It's a miracle! So keep your shirt on DREAMFeathersong! Once more you can all thank DREAMFeathersong for this being posted. We have a nice agreement going. Thank you all for reading and reviewing, it is much appreciated!**

**Disclaimer: FOR THE LAST TIME I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING! (except lots of stuffed animals :D )**

We padded back to camp together, Darkthorn never letting me leave his sight, which I found a bit obnoxious. As we passed through the entranceway we were greeted by Fernstar herself. "Just where have you two been all this time," she snarled at us, more out of annoyance than anger.

I heard the low murmur of "I bet I can guess," coming from Darkthorn's brother, Nettlefang. Nettlefang took every chance he got to tease his brother. I let out a low hiss at his comment.

Darkthorn glared at his littermate before turning to Fernstar and saying, "I found Whispering-grass as you instructed me to, but by that time the storm was starting. We hid out in a cave until it passed." I groaned inwardly, he shouldn't have said cave, that was one of the first mistakes I had made too, but I was just an apprentice then, as a warrior he should have more sense.

"A cave?" Fernstar's expression turned worried. "Was there any fox smell to it," she asked in alarm.

"Oh, uh," Darkthorn stammered, realizing his mistake. I decided to pipe up.

"No Fernstar, I think it was an old rabbit warren. Darkthorn and I can fill it in tomorrow if you think a fox might try and use it though."

"Yes Whispering-grass, I think you should do that, we don't want any foxes to think we're welcoming them. Can you and Darkthorn do the job alone, or do you need more help?"

"No the two of us is fine," I answered in a semi-panic.

"Good, see that it is done by sun-high tomorrow."

"Yes Fernstar," Darkthorn and I said together as we turned away. Fernstar us a curious glance before returning to her den.

I beckoned with Darkthorn to follow me behind the warriors den. There was a nice spot there, comfortable for even three full grown cats. "Nice going mouse-brain," I started. "Now we have to go at dawn pretend to fill in a den that doesn't exist!"

"Look Whispering-grass, it's not my fault, I don't have the experience you do with this!" Darkthorn hissed back at me. As we argued, neither of us noticed the pair of amber eyes that watched us retreat to the spot we were currently sitting at. How could we have, when we were too busy glaring at each other.

"From now on Darkthorn, you need to be more careful with what you say and do. I didn't protect this secret for so long only to have you mess it all up!" With that, I turned my back on him and stalked away. I was aware he was following me, and so I was glad when Nettlefang intercepted him. I could vaguely hear what they were saying, but to get a better idea, I padded over to the fresh-kill pile and pretended to contemplate my selection.

"So Darkthorn, you two just waited it out it that little private cave? Nothing happened?" Nettlefang was grilling Darkthorn with all his perverted questions. I gave a growl. Snakefrost, the warrior sitting next to me looked up in alarm. I shot him a glance that sent him scurrying away.

Darkthorn was clearly having the same reaction I was. "Yes Nettlefang, only you would think of it any other way," he snarled.

"You know, if I were you, I would have taken Sweetflower." However, after Darkthorn gave a particularly ferocious growl, Nettlefang dropped the subject, much to my relief. I had to wonder how much truth there was to Darkthorn's statement though. Maybe he was wrong, other cats might actually believe the things Nettlefang was saying. Of course, I'm not sure even _Nettlefang_ believed what he was saying. He was just using it to provoke Darkthorn. So maybe I was safe from ridicule.

"Hey Whispering-grass I heard someone say you and Darkthorn were together outside camp when the storm hit," Falconpaw said as he bounced out of the apprentices' den. Then again, maybe not.

"Great Starclan, not you too Falconpaw!" I cried out.

"Huh," Falconpaw cocked his head to one side. _Oh, stupid me. He was just an apprentice, he wasn't trying to be like Nettlefang._

"I'm sorry Falconpaw. I overreacted. Come on, we're going out hunting again. The night-prey will be venturing out now it's dark and the rain has stopped, and you need to work on your marshy hunting techniques anyway. I don't think we have practiced night hunting that much though, so this should be pretty challenging."

"Hey wait up Whispering-grass, I'll come with you two!" I turned, even though I already knew who was talking.

"No thank you Darkthorn, I believe I've had quite enough of you today." I barely glanced at his hurt look before pushing along a very happy Falconpaw. "Come on, we're leaving," I muttered to him.

As we walked away, I heard Owlflight, one of our elders comment to Darkthorn, "she-cat troubles, eh? I remember being shut out by a plenty she-cats in my day. Why, when I asked Tansypool, and she was Tansypaw then mind you, to take a simple hunt with me, she walked away in a huff!"

I purred out loud when I heard Tansypool screeching from the elders den, "you stupid furball! That's not what happened at all! Darkthorn, you come right over here and I'll explain what really happened! And as for _you_ Owlflight, just because I'm an elder does _not_ mean I've lost my sense of hearing!"

"Let's go Whispering-grass!" Falconpaw called as he leaped ahead, only to slip on a new patch of mud. He stood up, dripping mud from his muzzle.

I purred, "maybe Fernstar will have to rename you Mudpaw!" He shook himself off, purposely trying to get mud all over me. "Hey, Falconpaw! Show some respect to your mentor!"

After a while Falconpaw was getting really good at avoiding the mud patches while hunting, and was relying on hearing so much instead of sight that when I finally called, "OK, that's enough for tonight I think," he jumped a fox-length.

When we entered camp, he gave a huge yawn and lumbered over to the apprentice den without so much as a backwards glance. I shook my head, thinking he needed to learn respect before I walked into the warriors den. Much to my dismay, the only open nest was directly next to Darkthorn. Worse, he was facing it, though I think only so that his back was turned to Sweetflower, the warrior next to him that had snuggled as close as possible. She was a real pain, always pretending to be perfect and as nice as her name suggested, but she was really quite a mean she-cat. It was no secret she liked Darkthorn either, always being a bother and complaining when she wasn't on a patrol with him. I snorted and gently dragged my nest as far away from Darkthorn as I could before curling up and immediately falling asleep.

**AN: Ho hum... nothing much happens. Lots of filler, lots of new cats, but a story can't be all action, and I'm too lazy to write anymore. Yes, I changed some things up from the last time, I needed to introduce Sweetflower before the next chapter though. Review please! Confirm my beliefs! (That's its a wonderful story and there are miniature errors everywhere.)**


	5. Betrayal

**AN: Well, well, well. You all thought I had abandoned this story, didn't you? Well you were wrong! Except for those of you who know how lazy I am and knew I would come back... eventually... in the far, far, future... So anywhoos, this chappie is NOT in Whispering-grass's perspective, but the mysterious villain of this story! "Who is it?"they cry, well I SHAN'T TELL YOU SO HA! Umm.. yeah. Sorry. Too much sugar I think. Ok, here's your teensy-tiny chapter.**

I watch her closely.

I must be the world's greatest actor, I have her believing exactly what I want her to.

She's hiding something, with Darkthorn no less.

How dare she.

I must find out her secret.

Greetings. You will be wondering who I am. But I have no intentions of telling you any of my secrets. Other than this one. I plan on humiliating Whispering-grass, just as she has humiliated me. I know she is hiding something. I watch her more closely than she realizes. I'm smarter than she gives me credit for. I have known for a long time she was hiding something, but I respected her enough to pretend I hadn't noticed. Not anymore. Not since she started hanging out with _him_.

If you asked her about it, she would deny that she liked him, or even that they were anything more than fellow clanmates. But I know different. I know how she acts. I know what she does and likes, and she isn't acting normal. Not since they were out in that storm together. I guess you could call me a stalker, but I think that's an inaccurate term. I only care for her well-being.

She let Darkthorn in on her secret. How COULD she? I must take matters into my own hands. She must see that Darkthorn is not the one for her. No, that's too far off topic. I only wish to be the wedge between them. I only wish to make Whispering-grass see her mistake in shunning me. I am not someone her can just boss around or ignore with no regards to my feel- never mind. Off topic again. Revenge. Right, revenge. Ok, revenge. Now, how to go about it...

Secrets. Right, right... hmm... I know she sneaks out regularly. Maybe she is meeting someone. It wasn't Darkthorn, his treks outside didn't coincide with hers often enough. Perhaps some cat from another clan. I would have though Whispering-grass was smarter than that, but love can make you do crazy things.

Next time she sneaks out I will follow her. I will track her down and make her reveal her secret. Or I could blackmail her, threaten to tell the secret unless she does what I want. Hmm... not a bad idea, but public humiliation would be better. She needs to feel what I do. The same abandonment and betrayal. Betrayal. That's what she did to me. I'm not betraying her, no... She. Betrayed. ME. She will pay.

She's hiding something.

I must find out her secret.

**AN: Apparently Stonepelt isn't the only crazy cat Whispering-grass will have to deal with. This was hard to write, I don't want to give too much away, and all of it is the same repeated over a thousand times. Hard to come up with new ideas. Yup, these are some of the betrayer's feelings, so you, lucky reader, got a sneak peak into his/her mind! Glad I don't speak Japanese or something where the different kind of "I" would reveal gender, or other stuffs. So yup, very short. Expect more soon! I may also put up allegiances soon, but not right now. It's freezing in the basement and I think my fingers are numb, so I gotta go. Plus breakfast is ready. Eggs and sausage... *drifts into dreamy state* Ok, bye for now!**


	6. Allegiances

**AN: Please ignore the first chapter, which says Darktail is Whispering-grass's mother. She's not. She doesn't exist anymore even, so forget about her. Thank you. The name was too similar to Darkthorn's. Anyways, this is the allegiances, sorry it's up so late in the story. If anything is confusing, PM me, I have it all planned out in my head! :)**

*****The cats are listed by age inside their groups, oldest first!*****

**Disclaimer: Ideas not owned by me.**

**Lakeclan Allegiances**

**Leader:**

Fernstar: She-cat with light brown pelt and green eyes. Mother of Branchstripe

**Deputy:**

Rookfang: Black mottled tom, amber eyes. Littermate of Buzzardtail, son of Marshfoot (Has mated with Stormcloud and Branchstripe, father of Meadowpaw, Falconpaw, Mousepaw, and Larchpaw)

**Medicine Cats: **

Fallingleaf: Medicine cat tom, dappled golden brown pelt, yellow-green eyes, littermate of Cloudberry

App- Meadowpaw

**Warriors: **

Buzzardtail: Whispering-grass's father, long furred brown tom with a large, fluffy tail and white underbelly, brown eyes. Son of Marshfoot, littermate of Rookfang.

Cloudberry: White tom with orange tabby spots and golden orange eyes, littermate of Fallingleaf,

App- Larchpaw

Mottledshrew: Whispering-grass's mother, light gray with even lighter patches, blue eyes. Older sister of Otterwhisker

Slatefur: Large smokey gray tom with blue eyes, littermate of Stormcloud, older brother to Snakefrost

Stormcloud: Pretty gray tabby she-cat, blue eyes, littermate of Slatefur, older sister to Snakefrost. Mother to Meadowpaw, Mousepaw, and Larchpaw

Otterwhisker : Dark brown tabby tom with white chest and green eyes, younger brother of Mottledshrew, father of Sweetflower

Branchstripe: White she-cat with brown stripes and amber eyes, daughter of Fernstar, mated with Rookfang, mother of Falconpaw

Whispering-grass: Dark, smoky gray warrior she-cat, green eyes

App- Falconpaw

Snakefrost: Black tom with white underbelly, tail tip, and toes. Very large yellow-green eyes

App- Mousepaw

Darkthorn: Warrior tom, amber eyes, dark pelt

Nettlefang: Warrior tom, Darkthorn's brother, amber eyes, light gray pelt with darker spots.

Sweetflower: New warrior who is anything but sweet. Calico with green eyes.

**Apprentices:**

Meadowpaw: Medicine cat apprentice, she-cat, white with blue eyes, deaf in one ear. Older sister to Mousepaw and Larchpaw

Falconpaw: Whispering-grass's apprentice, red-orange pelt, amber eyes. Son of Rookfang and Branchstripe

Mousepaw: Shy little brown apprentice, green eyes, Larchpaw's littermate (Stormcloud's 2nd litter)

Larchpaw: Orange bulls-eye tabby tom with yellow eyes, Mousepaw's littermate (Stormcloud's 2nd litter)

**Queens:**

Creamfeather: Long furred creamy she-cat with mossy green eyes, nursing Cloudberry's kits

Kits: Sedgekit (light gray tom with green eyes), Brindlekit (dappled golden brown she-cat with golden orange eyes), and Whitekit (white she-cat with green eyes)

Smallpoppy: Dusky red she-cat with small ears, expecting Otterwhisker's kits. Mother of Sweetflower

**Elders:**

Marshfoot: Mottled brown she-cat, oldest cat in clan. Mother of Rookfang and Buzzardtail

Owlflight: Elder tom, brown tabby, wide yellow eyes. Mate of Tansypool, father of Fallingleaf and Cloudberry

Tansypool: Elder she-cat, yellow eyes, tortie. Mate of Owlflight, mother of Fallingleaf and Cloudberry

**Outside the Clan: **

Stonepelt: Whispering-grass's brother, gray-blue tom, blue eyes, mentally retarded

Stork: Loner who lives in abandoned two-leg shack nearby the clans. Gray and white, motherly cat

Lucille: Siamese kittypet with violet-blue eyes


End file.
